Echoes of Creation: Chaos to Order in Everyday Life

Just about every creation story has a sense of bringing Chaos to some semblance of order. Sometimes by accident in the battle between gods (Enuma Elish) and sometimes on purpose is in the Genesis one creation account. But chaos to order didn't occur JUST at the creation of the world, it occurs every day. We just call it by a different name; we call it a swarm.

Individuals and groups from neurons and cancer cells to birds and fish organize themselves into collectives, and those collectives move in predictable ways. But the ways those swarms, schools, flocks and herds flip from chaos to order differ. Here's a few:

Golden Shiners (fish) seek darkness. Presumably for protection, shiners search out dark waters. But they can't actually perceive changes in light levels that might guide their way; instead, they follow one simple directive. When light disappears, slow down. As a result, the fish in a school pile up in dark pools and stay put.

Ants work in rhythm. When ants of a certain species get crowded enough to bump into each other, coordinated waves of activity pulse through them every 20 minutes.

Locusts are cannibalistic. When enough locusts squeeze together, bites from behind send individuals fleeing to safety. Eventually they organize into conga-line-like clusters to avoid being eaten. They also emit pheromones to attract even more locusts, resulting in a swarm.

Starlings do what their neighbors do. These birds coordinate their speed and direction with just a half dozen of their closest murmuration-mates, regardless of how packed the flock gets. With a micro-second reaction time those interactions are enough to steer the entire group in the same direction.

Honeybees head butt each other. When honeybees return from searching for a new next, they waggle in a dance that identifies the location. But if multiple sites exist, a bee can advocate for its choice by ramming its head into the other waggling bees. A bee that gets butted enough times stops dancing, ultimately leaving the hive with one option.

Even humans become easy followers, seeking order in chaos. Absent normal communication, humans can be as impressionable as a flock of sheep. Of one member of a walking group is instructed to move toward a target, though other members may not know the target - or even that there is a target - the whole group will eventually be shepherded into that direction.

It is in our nature to seek order out of chaos. Perhaps that is why the creation of the world was depicted in that way in ancient times.

Our God is a God of order, which gives my OCD tendencies great comfort. But even on a greater scale; since we messed up this world we (and even the world itself) are crying out for order in the chaos we have made of things. It is part of the image of God in us but it is also one of the hopes and prayers built in us for heaven itself. The last book of the Bible is Revelation, the last chapters of the last book tell us that when the dwelling of God is, again, with man that there will be no more "sea"; meaning there will be no more chaos. I, for one, am looking forward to that. You?